Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a Matabeleland-based human rights watchdog, said it is working with communities to identify unmarked mass graves where Gukurahundi victims are buried.
The pressure group has in the past erected plaques at some of the graves, but these have been vandalised by suspected ZANU PF activists and state security agents.
The Southern Eye reported that the remains of the Gukurahundi victims continue to be uncovered in some parts of Matabeleland, especially in Lupane and Maphisa where some of the atrocities were committed.
Ibhetshu LikaZulu co-ordinator Mbuso Fuzwayo told the publication that plaques will be erected in different communities that were affected by the 1980s mass killings. He said:
We plan to go to some communities that were affected by the Gukurahundi killings that need marking and will continue erecting plaques as we have been doing.
On 28 June 2023, Ibhetshu LikaZulu erected a memorial plaque on a mass grave where six people were allegedly killed by the Zimbabwe National Army’s (ZNA) Fifth Brigade in Salankomo village, Tsholotsho, in 1983.
Fuzwayo revealed that they plan to hold a plaque fundraising campaign in January 2024. He said:
We have worked with different communities in Matabeleland North, South and Midlands in erecting plaques and we plan to continue erecting them.
We are also having a plaque fundraising campaign in January.
Those who were affected by the genocide are the ones erecting plaques and this will assist in having them feel that someone is listening to their story.
The government must help communities with the resources to build memorial halls and plaques as a healing and memorialisation process.
Perpetrators of the genocide should not also destroy what the communities are trying to build concerning plaques.
In December 2023, the president of the Council of Chiefs, Chief Mtshane Khumalo said that the Government will roll out community consultative meetings in January 2024 to engage victims of Gukurahundi.
Khumalo added that the Government had provided resources and conducted training for the various people who will be involved in conducting the outreach programmes.
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